you have signed in as a newbie. if you are really new, you should know that you might be talking about one of two completely different things. if you bought a jar of a glaze with the word crystalline in its name and it says fire to a particular cone number, do that. contact the manufacturer of the glaze for answers. you may not need to slow cool.

if you are really new it is unlikely that you are trying to produce a truly crystalline glaze, the kind that requires very careful monitoring and a slow cooling and a "spare" at the bottom to catch the runoff that will occur. so some of the previous posts will not apply depending on what it is you plan to achieve. look at the website for Pottery Boys to see their crystalline glazes to see if that is what you are attempting. if so, you need much more instruction.

i suspect you are in the first category. good luck.

The answer is yes and no...I am a tile painter going potter...having been making tiles and painting them for 20 years or so, I have now bought a wheel and am doing some pots and stuff. The painter in me wants to experiment...a lot!

The glazes are Laguna crystalline glazes cone 6...which I accidently bought without realizing they needed special cooling. Anyway, I am learning some new things about the kiln and the glazes so it's all good. The firing schedule that comes with the glazes looks complicated...but, it is because I don't usually understand manuals, hence, I don't usually read them. I do have one and I shall have a look.Thank you for the help...much appreciated!

Your kiln manual should explain how to enter a firing program. I find it helpful to write out exactly what I must enter before actually programming the kiln. If you don't have a manual, you should be able to download one from the manufacturer's website.

I assume you know how crystalline glazes run and how to deal with that. Bill Schran has a great website which includes this PDF about using crystalline glazes. Cone6Crystals.pdf

Thanks...I have fired with this glaze before and found out the hard way that it runs...I guess I didn't believe the container warning. :-)I'm off to hunt for my manual!

Do you have a computer control?If so, this is fairly simple to program in on a custom type of schedule. You should have basic directions in your manual.

If you do not have a computer ... I would volunteer that it looks like a standard Cone 5 firing with 3 hrs of controlled cooling.Anyone know how to do controlled cooling without a computer???

Hi thanks for the info...that helps. I will look for the manual...I'm sure it's here somewhere. My kiln is a Skutt digital computerized and I have never really tried anything but the usual 04, 06, 5 and cone 6 firings with a short hold at the end...I guess, it's maybe not as complicated as it looks.

If it a normal cone 5 setting with controlled cooling, can I fire other glazes along with the crystalline glazes? Would the controlled cooling bother the other glazes?